IIM Lucknow International Business Conclave Begins from Jan 21

Lucknow: Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIM-L) three-day international business conclave, Manfest 2011, is scheduled to be held from January 21, 2011. Apart from being a meeting point for the best management brains in the country, the fest, will also offer potential jobs opportunities to the participating students.

As per sources, this year, in the 24th edition of the event, 23 companies have collaborated up with the business school to offer fast-track job offers. Prashanth Mahadeva, Co-Ordinator for Manfest 2011, has said that companies usually have stringent, 4-layered selection processes for placements. He said this year, many companies have promised to bypass at least 2 of these levels and interview students directly, based on their performances in flagship events held at Manfest.

Furthermore, as per sources, some of the companies that will be offering pre-placement interviews to selected students this year are Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Administrative Services, Accenture and Castrol. Pre-placement interviews (PPI) will be offered to candidates, who make the cut in Manfest's flagship events - Next CEO - the individual leadership challenge, Call For Arms, the Battle of B-Schools, BizQuiz and Treatise, an online international thought challenge.

During an operation event, apart from the flagship events, to be held between January 21 and 23, 2011, students will receive PPI offers for their performances in Stratstruck, a social media strategy, Finesse, a finance event, Marksmen, a marketing challenge and Ozone. Mr Mahadeva said that the crucial difference is that PPIs will be offered to finalists from many events as well.

Besides, next CEO, the individual leadership challenge as well as Call for Arms, the team challenge will only be open to the top 12 business schools of the nation. The winner of Next CEO walks away with the title of the Best B-Schooler in the Country, a PPI from Castrol and prize money worth of Rs 1 lakh. The three-member team that wins Call for Arms will be declared the best managers among the top business schools in India.

In addition, other Manfest activities for this year will be the flagship quizzing challenge, BizQuiz. The event is open-to-all and will be conducted by Gautam Bhimani. Treatise, another flagship event, the last round for which is currently on, is an entirely online event being organized on the social networking portal Facebook, and tests participants on their factual, logical and verbal skills.